Relapse Prevention

Clinical Guidelines for Implementing Relapse Prevention Therapy

A Guideline Developed for the Behavioral Health Recovery Management Project

December 2002

G. Alan Marlatt, Ph.D., George A. Parks, Ph.D., and Katie Witkiewitz, Ph.C. Addictive Behaviors Research Center Department of Psychology BOX 351525 University of Washington Seattle, WA 98195-1525

G. Alan Marlatt, Ph.D. is Professor of Psychology and director of the Addictive Behaviors Research Center where he conducts training and research on the prevention and treatment of alcohol and other addictive behavior problems in college students and Native American Youth as well as on the effects of Vipassana meditation on relapse and general well-being. He received his Ph.D. in psychology from Indiana University.

George A. Parks, Ph.D. is a research coordinator at the Addictive Behaviors Research Center where he conducts research and training on brief interventions to reduce college student harmful drinking and the effects of Vipassana Meditation on relapse and general well-being. He received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Washington.

Katie Witkiewitz, Ph.C. is a doctoral candidate at the University of Washington and a research assistant at the Addictive Behaviors Research Center where she conducts research on relapse and on the effects of Vipassana Meditation on relapse and general well-being. She received her Ph.C. in psychology from the University of Washington.

The Behavioral Health Recovery Management Project is an initiative of Fayette Companies, Peoria, IL Chestnut Health Systems, Bloomington, IL and The University of Chicago Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation

The Project is funded by the Illinois Department of Human Services Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse

Relapse Prevention Therapy (RPT): An Overview

“Quitting smoking is easy. I’ve done it hundreds of times.”

-Attributed to Mark Twain

Relapse, broadly defined as an act or instance of backsliding, worsening, or subsiding, may be the common denominator in the outcome of treatments designed to address psychological problems and health-related behaviors especially those related to alcohol and drug misuse. That is, most individuals who make an attempt to change health-related behaviors (e.g., lose weight, spend more time with family, stop smoking, etc.), will experience set-backs or slips (lapses) that will sometimes worsen and become relapses. As evidenced Mark Twain’s quote, people usually report that quitting is not nearly as difficult as staying quit, i.e. the maintenance of change.

Relapse Prevention Therapy (RPT) is a cognitive-behavioral approach to the treatment of addictive behaviors that specifically addresses the nature of the relapse process and suggest coping strategies useful in maintaining change (Marlatt & Gordon, 1985; Parks, Marlatt, & Anderson, 2001). It is based on the idea that addictive behaviors are acquired, over-learned habits with biological, psychological, and social determinants and consequences. Engaging in an addictive behavior typically provides immediate rewards that increase pleasure and/or decrease pain. In other words, people engage in addictive behaviors to “feel good” (enhanced pleasure) or to “feel better” (selfmedication of pain) although both motives can exist at the same time. The rewards of following addictive behaviors serve to maintain their excessive frequency, intensity, and duration, despite the delayed negative consequences, which can be quite severe and long lasting.

From a cognitive-behavioral point of view, the same learning process are involved in the development of both addictive (maladaptive) and non-addictive (adaptive) behaviors. Given the development of an addictive behavior is a learned process, changing addictive behaviors can be seen as a combination of extinguishing the connection between pleasure seeking and/or pain reduction and subsequent alcohol or drug use and helping clients to build a new behavior repertoire in which more adaptive coping behaviors replace addictive behaviors for the pursuit of pleasure and pain relief.

Utilizing this cognitive-behavioral analysis of addictive behaviors, Relapse Prevention Therapy (RPT) begins with the assessment of a client’s potential interpersonal, intrapersonal, environmental, and physiological risks for relapse and the unique set of factors and situations that may directly precipitate a lapse. Once potential relapse triggers and high-risk situations are identified, cognitive and behavioral techniques are implemented that incorporate both specific interventions to prevent lapses or manage them if they do occur and more global strategies to address lifestyle balance, craving, and cognitive distortions that might set-up exposure to high-risk situations where relapse is most likely.

The initial therapeutic component in RPT is the identification of a client’s unique profile of high-risk situations for relapse and evaluating that client’s ability to cope with these high-risk situations without having a lapse. Where coping deficits are recognized, it is important to determine if they are due to a lack of knowledge and skills or if adequate coping skills are being interfered with by factors such as low motivation, low self-efficacy, or anxiety. Following this assessment of coping capacity, coping skills training is undertaken to develop missing skills or to address factors that interfere with the performance of skills already in the client’s repertoire. An extensive overview of coping skills training for substance dependence is provided by the Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for Substance Dependence clinical guideline available at this website (Kadden, 2001).

In addition to teaching more effective coping responses, a major component of RPT is the enhancement of self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is defined as the extent to which an individual feels capable of performing a specific task (Bandura, 1977; Bandura, 1986). Higher levels of self-efficacy are predictive of improved treatment outcomes. The collaboration between the client and therapist plays a critical role in the encouragement of self-efficacy. RPT encourages practitioners to engage clients actively in the therapeutic process which tends to increase the client’s sense of ownership over successful therapy outcomes and willingness to persist when obstacles arise. Positive feedback from the therapist concerning the successful completion of substance use and non-substance use related tasks may help to increase a client’s sense of general self-efficacy which may further motivate the client’s efforts to change their problematic thoughts and behavior.

As in most cognitive-behavioral treatments, RPT incorporates topic-focused psychoeducational components and cognitive restructuring techniques to correct misperceptions and challenge and replace maladaptive thoughts. Eliminating myths related to positive outcome expectancies and discussing the psychological components of substance use such as self-efficacy and attributions for substance effects may provide a client with opportunities to make more healthy choices in high-risk situations. Positive outcome expectancies play an particularly influential role in the relapse process. Many clients glorify their alcohol and drug use experiences by focusing only on positive expectancies such as euphoria and excitement or pain relief and relaxation, while the more negative consequences of the experience (e.g., hangovers, health risks, and legal consequences) are not acknowledged or are rationalized or minimized.

One potential impact of positive expectancies on relapse occurs after a client has been abstinent from drinking or drugs for some period of time beyond acute withdrawal. Fantasies about future use may be influenced by memories of the positive effects of past drinking and drug use creating a shift in attitudes and beliefs about the effects of the foregone pleasure and associated feelings of deprivation. In this way, positive outcome expectancies for the immediate effects of a substance may provide a motivating force leading to the resumption of drinking or drug use.

A lapse becomes more likely when a client is faced with substance-related cues in a high-risk situation and is beginning to feel unable to cope effectively (low self-efficacy) without resuming the addictive habit. In a more global sense, this “desire for indulgence” may be a reaction to an unbalanced lifestyle. Clients in RPT are taught to recognize and cope with substance use triggers and related high-risk situations that may precipitate a lapse. This first component of RPT is called “relapse prevention” because it focuses on self-efficacy and coping effectively with high-risk situations to prevent a slip or a lapse from occurring.

If a client does lapse then “relapse management” procedures for dealing with this crisis or emergency situation are implemented, including specific strategies to stop or reduce further use to prevent a single lapse from developing into a full-blown relapse. These strategies for coping with a lapse are tailored to a particular client’s unique resources and needs. It is critical that clients are taught to restructure or reframe their negative thoughts about lapses and learn not to view them as a “failure” or an indication of a lack of “willpower.” Clients are taught to attribute lapses to specific, predictable, and potentially controllable events (both internal and external) rather than to personal failings and character flaws. Education about the relapse process and the likelihood of a lapse may better equip clients to navigate the rough terrain of the multiple cessation attempts typically necessary to achieve stable changes in addictive behaviors

A Cognitive Behavioral Model of Relapse

RPT is based on a cognitive-behavioral model of the relapse process developed over the past 30 years by Marlatt and his colleagues (Marlatt and Gordon, 1985; Parks, Anderson, & Marlatt, 2001). This model of relapse addresses several key questions about relapse both as a process and as an event:

1. 1. Are there specific situational events that serve as triggers for relapse?

2. 2. Are the determinants of the first lapse the same as those that cause a total relapse to occur, if not, how can they be distinguished from one another?

3. 3. How does an individual react to and conceptualize the events preceding and following a lapse and how do these reactions affect the person’s subsequent behavior regarding the probability of full-blown relapse?

4. 4. Is it possible for an individual to covertly plan a relapse by setting up a situation in which it is virtually impossible to resist temptation?

5. 5. At which points in the relapse process is it possible to intervene and alter the course of events so as to prevent a return to the addictive habit pattern?

6. 6. Is it possible to prepare individuals during treatment to anticipate the likelihood of relapse and to teach them coping behaviors that might reduce the likelihood of lapses and the probability of subsequent relapse?

In order to investigate these key questions about relapse, it is helpful to engage in a microanalysis of the relapse process. This approach focuses on the immediate precipitating circumstances of relapse as well as on the chain of events that may precede and set-up a relapse. In this analysis, particular attention is paid to situational, interpersonal, and psychological factors that precede a relapse and to the individual’s expectations and attributions in reaction to a lapse. This analysis is consistent with the view that the maintenance stage of habit change is a time when mistakes are expected, but can be overcome with renewed effort. As the old adage goes, we can learn much from our mistakes. In this sense, a lapse can be seen as a crisis involving both the dangers of full-blown relapse and the opportunity for new learning to occur from the slip to avoid a future relapse.

A Cognitive-Behavioral Model of the Relapse Process: Immediate Precipitants

Relapse Prevention

High-Risk Situation

Decreased Self-Efficacy Ineffective ₊Coping

Positive Response Outcome

Expectancies

Effective Coping Response

Relapse Management

Lapse (initial use of substance)

Increased Decreased Self-Probability of Efficacy Relapse

Abstinence Violation Effect Increased (AVE) + Initial Probability of

Effects of Relapse Substance

The cognitive-behavioral model of relapse flowchart (above) refers to the immediate precipitants of relapse that occur once a client is exposed to a high-risk situation. In RPT, it is assumed that clients who have successfully avoided alcohol or drug use for a period of time will begin to feel a sense of self-efficacy regarding their ability to maintain abstinence. If a client has not learned an effective coping response to avoid a lapse in response to high-risk situations, or if an effective coping response is not implemented due to a lack of motivation or anxiety, then there is an increased likelihood of a lapse. This increased probability of relapse is mediated by positive expectancies for the initial use of a substance coupled with a decrease in self-efficacy created by a lack of ability to cope with the high-risk situations. Low self-efficacy to cope without drinking and drug use combined with positive outcome expectancies for alcohol and drug effects are the immediate precursors to a lapse.

Even if a lapse does occur, the incorporation of relapse management strategies may prepare a client to implement damage control skills to reduce further harmful consequences and prevent the situation from escalating into a full-blown relapse. After a lapse, clients may experience the abstinence violation effect (AVE) that involves a loss of perceived control experienced after the client’s failure to adhere to his or her self-imposed rules of conduct regarding alcohol and drug use (Curry, Marlatt, & Gordon, 1987). On an emotional level, the AVE increases the probability of relapse because once a lapse has occurred, the shame, guilt, self blame and other negative feelings motivates further drinking or using drugs. In addition, the AVE affects the likelihood of relapse on a cognitive level because a lapse is also followed by an internal conflict over the inconsistency of one’s efforts to abstain from alcohol and/or drugs combined with the reality of just using a substance. Finally, the AVE also leads the client to attribute their “failure” to stay sober to stable internal factors within their character that demonstrate that they are flawed or beyond redemption.

At the same time that the cognitive and emotional reactions that characterize the AVE are operating to disturb and upset a client about their lapse, the client is also beginning to experience the intoxicating effects of the substance just used (e.g., enhanced pleasure and/or reduced pain) further contributing to the likelihood of continued use which may ultimately lead to a full-blown relapse.

The reinforcing aspects of the initial use of the substance are based in part on the principles of operant conditioning. An individual who experiences a positive consequence (e.g., euphoria) from drinking or using drugs is more likely to do so in the future due to the principle of positive reinforcement. Similarly, if engaging in substance use behavior results in the reduction of negative consequences (e.g., pain or negative emotional states) the person is also more likely to use in the future due to the process of negative reinforcement. Because using alcohol and drugs is so reinforcing, most clients are unable to make the ultimate trip to abstinence from drinking and drug use successfully the first time.

Instead of reacting to a lapse or relapse with a sense of self-blame and failure, Relapse Prevention Therapy treats these so-called failures as temporary setbacks that may ultimately have positive outcomes and become prolapses. Prolapses are defined as mistakes that clients learn from that improve their eventual chances of success. For some clients, the change process is slow and laborious and it takes many attempts before the goal is attained. Others may find that behavior change is less taxing, perhaps based on the experiences they have gained in previous quit attempts or because they are fortunate to have more resources, such as greater coping capacity, stable employment, or social support from family and friends. Whether a client feels they have succeeded or failed in their previous attempts at addictive behavior habit change, the goal of RPT remains the same, to help clients prevent relapse, even if they “slip” and drink or use drugs at some point after setting out on the trip, through relapse management strategies, ultimately the journey of habit change can still be made!

An Empirically Derived Taxonomy of High-Risk Situations

The initial source of the category system of high-risk situations for relapse that has been used in research and clinical practice for the past 20 years came as a result of questions asked following a study on aversion therapy for alcoholics. A key aspect of the study was to conduct detailed interviews with the 48 out of 65 patients (74%) who consumed at least one drink during the first 3-months following the end of the aversion treatment. At the 3-month follow-up, descriptions of the first lapse (the first drink after discharge from the program) were obtained by interviewers who administered a follow-up version of the Drinking Profile, a questionnaire designed to measure the quantity, frequency, and situational patterning of alcohol use. Interviewers asked the following four questions:

1. 1. "Now I would like you to briefly describe the important features of the situation which led you to take the first drink. Complete this sentence in your own words: “When I took my first drink, the situation was as follows...”

2. 2. What would you say was the main reason for taking that first drink?

3. 3. Describe any inner thoughts or emotional feelings (things within you as a person) that triggered off your need or desire to take the first drink at that time.

4. 4. Describe any particular circumstances or set of events, things that happened to you in the outside world that triggered off your need or desire to take the first drink."

Responses to these four open-ended questions probing determinants for the initial lapse were classified and assigned to an eight-category typology based on a content analysis approach. Reliability of the categorization system was assessed by asking two raters to independently assign 20 descriptions to the appropriate category; percentage of agreement between the two raters was 95%. This initial category system was revised and expanded in subsequent studies that included other addictive behaviors such as smoking and heroin use in addition to alcohol use. In this final version of the coding system, descriptions of initial lapses (first alcohol or drug use following treatment) were first categorized in one of two major classes.

The first category of relapse determinants, intrapersonal-environmental determinants, was used whenever the initial lapse episode involved a response to primarily psychological or physical events (e.g. coping with negative emotional states, giving in to "internal" urges, etc.) or a response to an environmental event (e.g. misfortune, accident, financial loss, etc.). Here the emphasis was on events in which another person or group is not reported to be a significant precipitating factor. The second major class, interpersonal determinants, applied whenever the relapse episode includes the significant influence of other individuals (e.g. interpersonal conflict, social pressure) either during or preceding a slip. The eight categories of high-risk situations for relapse (five within the interpersonal/environmental class and three within the interpersonal class) are described below.

I. INTRAPERSONAL-ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINANTS

The first category includes all determinants that are primarily associated with intrapersonal factors (within the individual), and/or reactions to non-personal environmental events. It includes reactions to interpersonal events in the relatively distant past (i.e. in which the interaction with others is no longer of significant impact).

A. Coping with negative emotional states. Determinants involve coping with a negative (unpleasant) emotional state, mood, or feeling.

(1) Coping with frustration and/or anger. Determinants involve an experience of frustration (reaction to a blocked goal-directed activity), and/or anger (hostility, aggression) in terms of the self or some nonpersonal environmental event. Includes all references to guilt, and responses to demands ("hassles")

from environmental sources or from within the self that are likely to produce feelings of anger.

�.(2) Coping with other negative emotional states. Determinants involves coping with emotional states other than frustration/anger that are unpleasant or aversive including feeling of fear, anxiety, tension, depression, loneliness, sadness, boredom, worry, apprehension, grief, loss, and other similar dysphoric states. Includes reactions to evaluation stress (examinations, promotions, public speaking, etc.), employment and financial difficulties and personal misfortune or accident.

B. Coping with negative physical-physiological states. Determinants involve coping with unpleasant or painful physical or physiological reactions.

�.(1) Coping with physical states associated with prior substance use. Coping with physical states that are specifically associated with prior use of drug or substance, such as "withdrawal agony" or "physical craving" associated with withdrawal.

�.(2) Coping with other negative physical states. Coping with pain, illness, injury, fatigue and specific disorders (e.g. headache) that are not associated with prior substance use.

C. Enhancement of positive emotional states. Use of substance to increase feelings of pleasure, joy, freedom, celebration and so on (e.g. when traveling or on vacation). Includes use of substance for primarily positive effects-to "get high" or to experience the enhancing effects of a drug.

D. Testing personal control. Use of substance to "test" one's ability to engage in controlled or moderate use; to "just try it once" to see what happens; or in cases in which the individual is testing the effects of treatment or a commitment to abstinence (including tests of "willpower").

E. Giving in to temptations or urges. Substances use in response to "internal" urges, temptations, or other promptings. Includes references to "craving" or intense subjective desire, in the absence of interpersonal factors.

�.(1) In the presence of substance cues. Use occurs in the presence of cues associated with substance use (e.g. running across a pack of cigarettes, passing by a bar, seeing an ad for cigarettes).

�.(2) In the absence of substance cues. Here, the urge or temptation comes "out of the blue" and is followed by the individual's attempt to procure the substance.

II. INTERPERSONAL DETERMINANTS

The second category includes determinants that are primarily associated with

interpersonal factors: reference is made to the presence or influence of other individuals

as part of the precipitating event. It implies the influence of present or recent interaction

with another person or persons, who exert some influence on the user (reactions to events

that occurred in the relatively distant past are classified in Category I). Just being in the

presence of others at the time of the relapse does not justify an interpersonal

classification, unless some mention is made or implied that these people had some

influence or were somehow involved in the event.

A. Coping with interpersonal conflict. Coping with a current or relatively recent conflict associated with any interpersonal relationship such as marriage, friendship, family patterns, and employer-employee relations.

�.(1) Coping with Frustration and/or Anger. Determinants involves frustration (reaction to blocked goal-directed activity), and/or anger (hostility, aggression) stemming from an interpersonal source. Emphasis is on any situation in which their person feels frustrated or angry with someone and includes involvement in arguments, disagreements, fights, jealousy, discord, hassles, guilt and so on.

�.(2) Coping with other interpersonal conflict. Determinants involve coping with conflicts other than frustration and anger stemming from an interpersonal source. Feelings such as anxiety, fear, tension, worry, concern, apprehension, etc. which are associated with interpersonal conflict, are examples. Evaluation stress in which another person or group is specifically mentioned would be included.

B. Social pressure. Determinants involves responding to the influences of another individual or group of individuals who exert pressure (either direct or indirect) on the individual to use the substance.

�.(1) Direct social pressure. 'Here is direct contact (usually with verbal interaction) with another person or group who puts pressure on the user or who supplies the substance to the user (e.g. being offered a drug by someone, or being urged to use a drug by someone else). Distinguish from situations in which the substance is obtained from someone else at the request of the user (who has already decided to use).

�.(2) Indirect social pressure. Responding to the observation of another person or group that is using the substance or serves as a model of substance use for the user.

C. Enhancement of positive emotional states. Use of substance in a primarily interpersonal situation to increase feelings of pleasure, celebration, sexual excitement, freedom and the like. Distinguish from situations in which the other person(s) is using the substance prior to the individual's first use (classify these under Section II-B, above).

Evidence for the Efficacy of Relapse Prevention Therapy

The cognitive-behavioral model of the immediate determinants of relapse, the taxonomy of high-risk situations, and the covert antecedents that set up lapses provide the conceptual basis for Relapse Prevention Therapy as a clinical approach to help clients avoid relapse and thereby maintain the changes in addictive habits gained through treatment or their own efforts. Over the past 25 years, RPT has provided an important heuristic and treatment framework for clinicians working with several types of addictive behavior (Carroll, 1996). Incorporating studies of RPT for smoking, alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine addiction, Carroll concluded that RPT was more effective than no-treatment control groups and equally effective as other active treatments (e.g., supportive therapy, social support group, interpersonal psychotherapy) in improving substance use outcomes.

In her review, Carroll (1996) also discusses three areas that emerged as having particular promise for the effective application of Relapse Prevention Therapy. First, Carroll notes that while relapse prevention may not always prevent relapse better than other active treatments, several investigations suggest that RPT is more effective than available alternatives in relapse or lapse management, i.e. reducing the frequency, intensity, and duration of lapse episodes (slips), if they do occur. Second, several studies, especially those comparing RPT to other psychotherapies, have found RPT to be particularly effective at maintaining treatment effects over long-term follow up periods.

Based on the qualitative results from Carroll, Irvin and colleagues conducted a meta-analysis on the efficacy of RPT techniques in the improvement of substance abuse and psychosocial outcomes (Irvin, Bowers, Dunn, & Wang, 1999). Twenty-six studies representing a sample of 9,504 participants were included in the review, which focused on alcohol use, smoking, polysubstance use, and cocaine use. The overall treatment effects demonstrated that RPT was a successful intervention for reducing substance use and improving psychosocial adjustment. In particular, RPT was more effective in treating alcohol and polysubstance use than it was in the treatment of cocaine use and smoking, although these findings need to be interpreted with caution due to the small number of studies evaluating cocaine use. RPT was equally effective across different treatment modalities, including individual, group, and marital treatment delivery, although all of these methods were most effective in treating alcohol use.

The Relapse Replication and Extension Project (RREP), initiated by the Treatment Research Branch of the United States National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), was specifically designed to investigate the cognitive-behavioral model of relapse developed by Marlatt and colleagues (Marlatt & Gordon, 1985). The RREP focused on the replication and extension of the high-risk situation taxonomy in relation to relapse, and the reliability and validity of the taxonomic system for classifying relapse episodes. The results from the RREP are provided in the 1996 supplement to the journal Addiction. As in the original studies of relapse episodes in alcoholics, the RREP found that negative emotional states and exposure to social pressure to drink were most commonly identified as high-risk situations for relapse (Lowman, et al., 1996).

Note: Currently, a second edition of Relapse Prevention (Marlatt & Gordon, 1985) to be edited by Marlatt & Donovan is being prepared for publication by Guilford Press. The 2^nd edition will include a review of existing research on RPT, an updated conceptual model of relapse, and individual chapters which focus on RPT applications to a variety of addictive behaviors. The major components of the original RPT model, presented will likely remain. This guideline will be updated periodically to reflect new formulations.

General Approach to Working with Clients

Contrary to traditional approaches in the treatment of addictive behaviors in which therapists often initiate treatment by using confrontation techniques designed to "break through the denial system" and force the client into accepting a diagnostic label such as “alcoholic” or “drug addict”, the RPT approach attempts to foster a sense of objectivity or detachment in our clients' approach to their addictive behaviors. By relating to the client as a colleague or co-therapist, we hope to encourage a sense of cooperation and openness in which clients learn to perceive their addictive behavior as something they do rather than as an indication of someone they are. By adopting this objective and detached approach, clients may be able to free themselves from the guilt and defensiveness that would otherwise bias their view of their problem and their accurate reporting of urges, craving, and lapses. We also encourage clients to take an active role in treatment planning and decision making throughout the course of treatment and to assume personal responsibility at every stage of the program. The overall goal is to increase the clients' awareness and choice concerning their behavior, to develop coping skills and self-control capacities, and to generally develop a greater sense of confidence, mastery, or self-efficacy in their lives.

Which of the various RPT techniques described in this clinical guideline should be applied with a particular client? It is possible to combine techniques into a standardized multi-modal "package," with each client receiving identical components, if the purpose is treatment outcome research (Kadden, Carroll, Donovan, Cooney, Monti, Abrams, Litt, & Hester, 1995; Carroll, 2001). In contrast with the demands of treatment outcome research, those working in the clinical arena typically prefer to develop an individualized program of techniques, tailor-made for a particular client or group of clients. Selection of particular techniques should be made on the basis of a carefully conducted assessment. Therapists are encouraged to select intervention techniques on the basis of their initial evaluation and assessment of the client's problem and general lifestyle pattern.

To increase the overall impact of the individualized approach, a number of points should be kept in mind. First, in order to enhance the role of the client as colleague or co-therapist, every attempt should be made to assist the client in selecting his or her own combination of techniques. The rationale for selecting one technique over another should follow logically from the assessment phase in which the client plays an active participatory role. Second, the therapist can facilitate the client's general compliance with the self-control program by focusing attention and energy on a few carefully selected techniques introduced one at a time. Clients are likely to be overwhelmed by being asked to comply with a plethora of procedures which are all introduced at the same time. Along these same lines, adherence to the RPT will be enhanced if the client is able to experience small, but progressively incremental successes as the time goes on. Self-efficacy is enhanced by the client's gradual progress, in which each new phase of the process is taken “one step at a time.” Finally, successful RPT creates a balance between verbal procedures (education & instruction) and nonverbal techniques (imagery & meditation).

Therapeutic Components of the RPT

RPT is designed to equip clients for the journey of habit change by providing them with the necessary tools and skills to reach their destination and to guide them through the early stages of the trip. Specifically, the RPT consists of the following components:

1. 1. RPT teaches coping strategies (constructive ways of thinking and behaving) to deal with the immediate problems that arise in the early stages of the habit change journey such as coping with the urges and craving for alcohol and drugs.

2. RPT provides clients with maps showing the location of various temptation situations, pitfalls, and danger spots along the way that can throw clients off course with the lure of temptation. RPT will give clients information on detours to avoid temptation situations where possible and to help them to acquire the skills to cope with challenges

successfully without giving in to temptation or giving up on the habit change process altogether.

2. 3. RPT helps guide clients through the tricks their minds sometimes play on them when they have doubts in the journey of attitude and behavior change. RPT teaches clients to recognize the early warning signals that alert them to the danger of relapse including the psychological tricks of making Apparently Irrelevant Decisions (AlDs) that are secretly designed to set them up for trouble by bringing them closer to situations that are extremely tempting and difficult to resist. RPT also shows clients how their minds often play tricks on them such as denial and rationalization that increase the danger of relapse. RPT teaches clients how they can learn to identify and cope with these cognitive distortions.

3. 4. RPT helps clients make important changes in their day-to-day lifestyle, so that the gratification they have obtained from alcohol or drugs is replaced with other nondestructive, ultimately more satisfying activities. Alcohol or drugs become an addiction or dependency because clients use them as a means of coping with life's continual ups and downs. It becomes increasingly difficult for clients to just let things be, without increasing or decreasing the intensity of their experiences by getting drunk or high. When clients stop drinking or doing drugs they begin to learn that they can trust their inner feelings and experiences without trying to hide them behind a fog of intoxication. RPT teaches clients new methods of coping with stress and how to increase the number of “wants” or desirable, self-fulfilling activities in their daily lifestyle.

4. 5. Finally, RPT helps clients anticipate and be prepared in advance for possible breakdowns or relapses along the route. Many people begin their journey of habit change with very high expectations and demands for themselves. They frequently expect themselves to act perfectly without a single error, so that if they have any difficulty they think this proves they do not “have what it takes.” Although many clients hope they will make it through the first time without any problems, an unrealistic expectation of perfection may set them up for failure; they may be tempted to give up altogether the first time they have a problem or a slip along the way. RPT encourages clients to take a more realistic approach, to learn to anticipate and cope with the road conditions that might otherwise cause a slip or a breakdown. And, if all precautions fail and an accident occurs, RPT teaches clients how to do repair and maintenance, to learn from the experience, and to continue on the path ahead.

Available evidence indicates that most clients will not experience successful

maintenance of change the first time through the stages of change process. Instead of

reacting to the inevitable problems encountered with a sense of self-blame and failure,

RPT teaches clients to treat these seeming setbacks or relapses as prolapses. Whether a client feels they have succeeded or failed in their previous attempts on this particular journey, the goal of RPT remains the same: to help clients prevent relapse—even if they “slip” and drink or use drugs at some point along the way.

RPT Intervention Strategies

RPT assessment techniques and intervention strategies are designed to teach clients to anticipate and cope with the possibility of relapse. In the beginning of RPT training, clients are taught to recognize and cope with high-risk situations that may precipitate a lapse and to modify cognitions and other reactions to prevent a single lapse from developing into a full-blown relapse. Because these procedures are focused on the immediate precipitants of the relapse process, they are referred to collectively as Specific RPT Intervention Strategies. As clients master these techniques, clinical practice extends beyond a microanalysis of the relapse process and the initial lapse and involves strategies designed to modify the client's lifestyle and to identify and cope with covert determinants of relapse (early warning signals, cognitive distortions, and relapse set-ups). As a group, these procedures are called Global RPT Intervention Strategies.

Both Specific and Global RPT Strategies can be placed in five categories: Assessment Procedures, Insight/Awareness Raising Techniques, Coping Skills Training, Cognitive Strategies, and Lifestyle Modification (Wanigaratne, Wallace, Pullin, Keaney, & Farmer, 1995). RPT Assessment Procedures are designed to help clients appreciate the nature of their addictive behavior problems in objective terms, to measure motivation for change, and to identifying high-risk situations and other risk factors that increase the probability of relapse. Insight/Awareness Raising Techniques are designed to provide clients with alternative beliefs concerning the nature of the habit-change process (i.e., to view it as a learning process) and through self-monitoring, to help clients identify their patterns of emotion, thought, and behavior as they relate to the challenges of the habit change process. Coping Skills Training strategies include teaching clients both behavioral and cognitive responses to cope with high-risk situations. Cognitive Strategies are utilized to introduce coping imagery and cognitive restructuring to deal with urges and craving, to identify AIDs as early warning signals, and to reframe reactions to the initial lapse (restructuring of the AVE). Finally, Lifestyle Modification strategies (e.g., meditation, relaxation, and exercise) are designed to strengthen clients’ overall coping capacity and to reduce the frequency and intensity of urges and craving that are often the product of the stress and distress caused by an unbalanced lifestyle.

The RPT intervention strategies presented in this guideline are drawn from a wide array of techniques used in behavior therapy, cognitive therapy, humanistic and existential psychotherapies. Relapse prevention intervention strategies have been used successfully as an alternative to traditional treatment protocols and as an adjunct to programs based on the disease model. Whatever the nature and etiology of addictive behaviors, RPT provides the therapist and client with practical tools for the maintenance of change.

Global and Specific Relapse Prevention Therapy Intervention Strategies

Specific RPT Intervention Strategies

The specific RPT intervention strategies to be summarized in this section focus on coping with high-risk situations in order to prevent a lapse and on coping with a lapse in order to prevent one slip from escalating into a full-blown relapse. Assessment of Motivation and Commitment

Cognitive-behavioral relapse prevention strategies are designed to cope with the high-risk situations that precede a slip or lapse and relapse management strategies are designed to prevent a slip or lapse from becoming a full-blown relapse. Since addictive behavior habit change is a cyclical process, most people will not be completely successful on their first attempt to change an addictive behavior. The lessons learned from each lapse or relapse may bring the person closer to stable maintenance if they are viewed as opportunities to learn rather than failures.

Prochaska and DiClemente (1984) have described relapse within a transtheoretical model, incorporating six stages of change: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance, and relapse. These stages of change have been successfully applied to understanding the motivation of patients receiving treatment for substance use disorders (DiClemente & Hughes, 1990). Motivation for change has been found to be highly correlated with treatment outcomes and relapse. The following relapse prevention strategies may be utilized to assess a client’s motivation and encourage their motivation to change. Relapse prevention and relapse management strategies are necessary at the action, maintenance, and relapse stages in order for habit change to be successful over time.

The Decision Matrix (Decisional Balance Sheet)

The decision matrix is administered early in the habit change process. It is similar to the decisional balance sheet developed by cognitive theorists, Janis and Mann (1977). The primary assumption in using this technique is that people will not decide to change their behavior or to continue an ongoing behavior unless they expect their gains to exceed their losses. To complete the decision matrix, the client is presented a three-way table with the following factors represented: the decision to remain abstinent, the decision to resume using alcohol or drugs and both the immediate and delayed positive and negative effects of either alternative.

Decision Matrix for Alcohol Abstinence or Alcohol Use

	IMMEDIATE CONSEQUENCES		DELAYED CONSEQUENCES
	Positive	Negative	Positive	Negative
TO REMAIN ABSTINENT	Improved self-efficacy, & self-esteem; family approval, better health, more energy; save money and time; greater success at work	Frustration and anxiety; denial of pleasures of drinking; not going to bars; anger at not being able to do what one wants without paying the price	Greater control over life; better health & longevity; learning about oneself & others without alcohol intoxication; more respect from others	Not being able to enjoy drinking while watching sports; becoming boring and depressed; not being able to remain friends with heavy drinking buddies
TO RESUME ALCOHOL USE	Automatic pleasure; reduced stress and anxiety; not feeling pain or worrying about one’s problems; enjoying sports and drinking buddies	Feeling weak due to indulging in drinking; risk of accidents and embarrassment; anger of wife and family; being late or missing work hangovers; wasting	Keeping drinking buddies; ability to drink while watching sports; not having to deal with wife and family by staying out drinking	Possible loss of family & job; deterioration of health and early death; loss of non-drinking or light drinking friends; ridicule of others and low self-esteem
		money

Questionnaire and Structured Interviews for the Assessment of the Stages of Change

�.(1) URICA – The University of Rhoda Island Change Assessment Scale is a 32-item questionnaire developed by the Prochaska and DiClemente research group produces scores on four subscales corresponding to precontemplation, contemplation, action, and maintenance stages of change by McConnaughy, E.A., Prochaska, J.O., & Velicer, W.F. (1983).

�.(2) SOCRATES – The Stages of Change Readiness and Treatment Eagerness Scale is 19-item questionnaire developed by Miller and Tonigan based on the stages of change model, but which yields scores on three factors that differ from the original model, but nonetheless are useful in assessing motivation. The three factors are Ambivalence, Recognition, and Taking Steps by Miller, W. R., & Tonigan, J. S. (1996).

�.(3) RCA - The Readiness to Change Questionnaire is a 12-item questionnaire developed by Rollnick et al designed to measure the precontemplation, contemplation, and action stages of the Prochaska and DiClemen